The extraction of aromatic substances inside of a capsule by means of a pressurized fluid flow has a determinant importance upon the quality of the resulting beverage. In what refers to the entry and exit of the flow, the solution usually applied in the prior art relates to a certain form of rupture of a construction material used in at least one certain zone of the capsule. Any form of rupture of a construction material, leas as a rule to a different outcome, notably in terms of the resulting configuration of the section and area of the passageway made available for entry or exit of the flow.
In particular, it is important to consider the configuration and distribution of the flow at the entry, so as to spread across the volume occupied by the aromatic substance in the most effective possible way. In this respect, both the section of the passageway as the path of the flow, immediately after entering or before leaving the capsule, have an overriding influence upon the attraction efficacy and several other properties of the beverage obtained. In particular, maximizing the area distribution of the pressurized flow right at the entry, so as to cross the biggest possible fraction of the volume of aromatic substance contained in the capsule, presents several advantages.
Moreover, it is known the advantage associated with the flow remaining during a certain period of time inside the capsule, usually controlled by the hydraulic force thus generated, notably when the latter is sufficient to actuate mechanical means of rupture or perforation of such a zone of the capsule, external or internal to the capsule. In this respect, it will be advantageous to provide a simpler solution in construction terms, for a space of temporary flow retention, and bigger control upon the flow exit conditions. According to another aspect, in many cases of resorting to internal perforation means, it is known the need to use one exterior element in this zone, so as to ensure the airtightness of the capsule, which results disadvantageous in terms of production costs and simplicity of recycling of the capsules.
Documents 2008/087099 A2, WO 2005/020769 A1 and EP 1243210 A1 disclose capsules according to the aforementioned technical field. Patent EP 1826148 B1 discloses an element disposed at the entry of a capsule and dividing the fluid flow upstream into several fluxes distributed and oriented so as to attain a more effective distribution of the fluid flow within the volume occupied by the aromatic substance.